Many times well-intentioned practices can fall short of
their potential. The yearly professional
development goal setting process has been just this sort of practice until this
school year at MRJH. Because of the top-down,
directive format used, it became something that we did TO teachers instead of
FOR teachers. Traditionally, we used a prescribed approach in which
administrators provided the goal with a specific percentage score to be reached
on a STAAR exam in their content area.
Teachers of courses that were not STAAR tested set goals based upon the
percentage of students passing their classes for the year. The activities that were identified to
support reaching their goals were also supplied to the teachers. These
activities reflected the campus focus for the year. In an effort to simplify the measurement of
the goal by a percentage score, we created a process that was perfunctory in
nature. The goal-setting process became
a compliance piece with minimal teacher buy-in.
Our goal was to create a reflective process for teachers that was based
on their growth needs.
We have been working on the development of standards-based
learning within our Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop models in language
arts. For the past two years, that
department has been creating proficiency scales based upon the TEKS. These proficiency scales are rubrics that
describe a continuum of four competencies ranging from novice to
exemplary. Our teachers confer with
students based upon the scales. This
allows for clear articulation of where students are in relation to the standard
and provides support and direction to achieve the next level of
proficiency. The use of these scales
with students has transformed our language arts instruction. Teachers have a deep understanding of where
students are in their learning. Students
develop self-awareness of their current skill set and have a clear plan for
growth. To watch our master teachers
confer with students is a thing of instructional beauty! As an administrative team, this process
appealed to us and we made the decision to model our goal setting process with
teachers after it.
If you have followed my blog, you are aware that we have an
instructional model at MRJH we refer to as The Accomplished Teaching Model. The model has three primary areas of
focus. These include quality first time
instruction, content alignment, and a passion for student success and subject
area. For the development of the scale,
we began to dissect the quality first time instruction area of our model. As a Title One eligible campus, we focus on
doing things right the first time, instructionally speaking. The major areas that we concentrate on are
clear learning objectives, bell-to-bell engagement, high level questioning,
using technology as a tool, differentiation, and the use of assessment to guide
instruction. For the purposes of goal
setting, my administrative team created a rubric that specifically described
the competencies in each of the six areas at four levels of a continuum. We classified these levels as novice,
emerging, proficient, and exemplary. We
spent many hours involved in instructional conversation as a team. In my opinion this is PLC work at its
finest. Because of the collaborative process
used in creating this document, my administrative team has great clarity about what
quality first time instruction looks like.
We entitled this rubric our Accomplished Teaching Proficiency Scale.
With the scale developed we began discussing how we would
use it for teacher goal-setting. We
wanted to mirror the conferring model our language arts department was using
with students. Ultimately each of the
administrative staff provided a copy of the scale to the instructional staff
they supervised. We asked the teachers
to read the scale and reflect upon where they were on the continuum for each
area of quality first time instruction.
Administrators then sat with each staff member to discuss their
self-identified competencies. We worked
to ask probing questions. After all
areas were discussed, we asked our staff to identify two areas that they would
like to become more masterful at. These
areas became the focus of their professional development goals for the year.
Without exception, our teachers shared that this new goal setting process was
more meaningful than what we had done in the past. My administrative team enjoyed playing the
role of coach as we explored each area of the model with our teachers.
Our new goal setting process supports deep alignment with
our instructional model and sets the expectation for teachers to grow through
reflective practice. I believe that this
process supports teachers in becoming masters at their craft. These are instructional conversations worth
having.
